The gift
by PharaohZeth
Summary: Pharaoh Atem has been feeling nothing but sadness. Each passinng day he feels more and more depressed, if it doesn't stop it might be his end. Fortunately, the gods sent him a gift, hoping it could help him bring joy to his life.
1. Chapter 1

Once upon a time there was a mighty Pharaoh.

He was loved by his people; his land had never been so fertile, Khemet was in peace, his country was now the richest known and the most respected, there was enough food and water for his people.

But even still the Pharaoh felt empty, a gaping hole in his heart that couldn't be fulfilled was growing every day, consuming him, eating him alive, and when there was nothing to eat, it would be his end; he had no heir and the next in the line would be his little cousin, Mokuba, who was yet too young to be burden with that kind of responsibility; he needed to fight, survive and live, if not for him, for his people, for his friends and family.

But it was so hard.

Day after day the depression consumed him, drowning him in sadness, growing unhappy every passing minute; and he was just too tired to fight anymore.

It was getting harder to walk, to move, to speak, to breath, to live.

What could he do?

Who would be able to aide him?

To save him?

He did not have the answer; he was miserable but fortunate, for you see, the gods saw what was happening on their beloved land, and to their relative, the Pharaoh, god among men; and they could not and would not let the hole in his heart consume him.

So Isis with the help of Nut created a life, a being, a boy.

Of ivory skin and amethyst eyes, his curly hair of the same shade of lila but his bangs were blonde, and they fell on his face messily, his features were soft and his smile bright like the sun.

He would be the one to bring joy to the Pharaoh's heart and save him from the sorrows.

But they couldn't send him alone, if they did, an evil being could harm the boy.

So they reached to someone, of a land across the sea, someone strong and loyal of sunshine hair and cream colored skin, his eyes shone a beautiful amber and his presence could illuminate the room.

He would be the protector, companion and friend of the gift.

They arrived to the palace with the sunrise.

The hoods covered their faces and the guards escorted them to the throne room.

The Pharaoh sat there, his face expressionless, his eyes devoid of light.

The visitants kneeled down and waited until the mighty ruler gave them permission to speak.

"Pharaoh, I am Jounouchi Katsuya, and I'm here as a messenger of the gods, with a gift for you" he said, not looking up, he spoke formally but his accent spoke of a land and a language unknown.

"A gift?" asked the Pharaoh; he heard a shushed giggle that died as soon as it was born "Show me your faces" he demanded.

They took off their hoods and looked up to the king.

"I am Yugi" he smiled "I am your gift"


	2. Chapter 2

How much time had passed?

Enough for Yugi to light up the Pharaoh's days, to remember him of the joy of life and to look forward to every sunrise, to smile more and more each passing day, to make easier to get up, move, breath and live. But not enough to fill the gaping hole in his heart.

He saw this, he saw how the hole was decreasing with each smile, each word, each light touch of Yugi.

And he wasn't happy.

That was not what he wanted, that was not what be had planned, that's not how things should be.

He needed to do something, he needed to do it now, or he would run out of time.

And he had an idea.

* * *

He was happy, he was grateful to the gods for such a wonderful gift.

It had been a normal day, Yugi would wait for him for dinner and play games with him in his spare time, they would have lunch together in private, under the shadow of a tree of his private garden.

Yugi was blessing, since his arrival he could feel the hole in his heart decreasing and he was grateful.

The moon shone bright on the sky, it's milk light illuminated the Pharaoh's chamber.

This would be the night, he would entrust himself to Yugi, and he knew Yugi would do the same.

A couple of full moons had passed since the day he spoke of his feelings to Yugi, and what did Yugi do? He gave his heart away, he entrusted it to the Pharaoh and smiled brightly with tears in his eyes.

The Pharaoh smiled at the memory.

Someone knocked the door and Pharaoh gave permission to enter his chamber.

But he didn't hear the door open.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been such a wonderful day.

Pharaoh had promised him a wonderful night together, a night of love and pleasure, and he was looking forward to it.

His heart was thrumming with excitement, at the sole idea of what was to come filled his belly with butterflies.

He walked down the hallway; he stopped in front of the Pharaoh's chamber.

He knocked the door, but no one responded.

Curious, he peeked in and gasped.

There was a dark entity, his clawed hand was on Atem's neck, picking him up, his feet didn't reach the floor.

Before he could think Yugi ran, he pushed the monster lacking him drop the ruler onto the floor, unconscious; the clawed hand went to his neck, cutting it; the dark being turned into smoke the moment it hit the vanity table.

Yugi fell limp on the floor.


	4. Chapter 4

He was just walking by.

The door was open.

The room was bloodied.

He yelled for the guards, it there were none there, why weren't there any guards?

He needed help, so he ran, he ran until he crashed with someone.

"Look where you're going" complained the priest.

The priest, Seto was his name, almost bit his tongue when he took a look at the gift's guardian; he was shaking and tears were filling his eyes, a look of pure distress.

Jounouchi took his hand and ran in the direction of the Pharaoh's chambers, and Seto saw what had distressed the blonde so much.

Next to the bed was Atem, on the floor barely breathing, some tooth away was Yugi, face down on the floor, drowning in a pool of his own blood.

"Brother" his little brother had followed them.

"Mokuba don't look" with a hand, he covered his brothers eyes "Go get help, call Mahad, Siamun and Isis but don't come back" he ordered and his brother complied.

He cradled Atem in his arms, aside from the mark of a massive hand on his neck there were no injuries.

Jounouchi cursed nonstop, he holded his friend, and saw a clean cut on his neck.

"No, no, Yugi, please no" he cried.

Slowly Atem returned to consciousness, he looked around, and his eyes landed on the bloodied body of his partner.

He stood up and fell, but that didn't stop him, he crawled to Yugi.

Tears rolled down his face like waterfalls, and his breath was faltering, with a hand he caressed the boy's cheek, down to the deep cut on his neck and stopped on his chest, he put his ear over his heart, hoping, pleading for there to be a heartbeat, but there was none.

He took his partner's body from his friend and hunched over himself, hugging it, he seated his forehead over his heart, and from deep within, he screamed, a scream heavy with feeling, with sorrow, sadness and despair.

It was the sound of his heart breaking.


	5. Chapter 5

**Isis be like "Jounouchi you had ONE job"**

* * *

Chapter Text

It couldn't be.

All their work, their creation, their boy.

Gone.

They could try again, make another one, but, Pharaoh wouldn't want another one, couldn't love another one, didn't want to.

They could bring him back to life, they had his body, they would only need to do something with that nasty cut, but his soul was nowhere to be found, they could give him a new soul, right? Maybe, but it wouldn't be Yugi anymore.

So what could they do?

Isis heard their pleas, Jounouchi's, Atem's and even Seto's, they wanted his friend back, and they would do anything for that.

And maybe there was something they could do.

Jounouchi and Seto gasped when they saw her, but Atem didn't notice her presence.

She took his face delicately and made him look up, she swep some tears with her thumb.

"Look up Pharaoh" she said and Atem sobbed "Don't cry, it is not the end" the Pharaoh stared at her with pleading eyes, full of sorrow "We can bring him back to life, but his soul isn't here anymore; if you bring it back" she explained "He'll come back to life"

The Pharaoh stared at her in disbelief.

"Where!? Where can I find his soul?!" he asked anxious.

"I don't have the answer, but a good place to look in is the afterlife" she said "Go to the oasis of Horus, there you'll find someone who will be able to help you" she let his face go and turned to Jounouchi "You'll go with him; you're still the guardian of the gift, don't let more harm come to him, or else you'll be punished" she said accusative and Jounouchi flinched, then nodded.

And just like that, Isis disappeared into thin air.


	6. Chapter 6

How old had he been when they met?

Around 8 winters old probably.

He found the boy at the edge of the oasis; the boy had peanut skin, his hair was long and fluffy of a pearl white colour and his eyes of cinnamon.

"What are you doing here?" he had asked.

The boy shrieked before turning to face him.

"What are you doing here?"

"I-I'm hiding" the boy whispered "Please don't tell them I'm here" he pleaded "Please"

"Hey, calm down" he kneeled down "I won't tell anybody, but why are you hiding?"

"Because if they find they'll give to the guards" he was trembling.

"What's wrong with that? Did you do something bad?"

"No" he shrieked "I don't know what did we do" he cried "But they came to our village and killed everybody, only my brother and I managed to escape, but we got separated" the boy hugged himself "Let me hide here, until my brother finds me, please"

"Hey, it's okay" he patted the boy's head "I won't tell anyone you're here, okay?" the boy nodded "What's your name? Mine's Marik"

"I'm Ryo"


	7. Chapter 7

Marik didn't have a happy family, you see, his mother died the day he was borned, and his father wasn't exactly a nice person.

Marik wasn't one to complain, especially when he was the favorite son, since he was the only boy, his elder sister, Ishizu, on the other hand, his father despised her, he said it was because she killed her twin sister when she was born.

Because something so evil to be able to kill their sibling as a newborn didn't deserve to be loved.

He would beat her almost every day and he would hit Marik too every time he stepped in to defend her, which was pretty much always.

This had to end; there was a limit to how much they could take.

Ishizu was reaching her limit, Marik noticed one day that he found her with a knife to her wrist, he offered himself to make dinner after that. His father hadn't noticed this, since he usually was out of the oasis when Ishizu had to cook, but when he did notice, he was enraged, how dared that girl make his son cook?!, that was her job as a woman, he took her to another room, he had just bought a wip for his horse.

Marik heard the cries, he ran, he kicked the door open and found his father with a bloodied whip and his sister, with injuries and blood on her back, arms and face.

He didn't thought, he just ran to his father, and stabbed him, one, two, three, four, five times, he was crying, of course he was, but not because of what he was doing, but because of what that man did to his beautiful sister, he kept stabbing him non stop, not when he fell to the floor, nor when he stopped moving, he kept stabbing until he barely felt his own arms.

Ishizu was on the floor, crying, but she didn't say anything, until she saw Marik stop, both still crying, she called his name, he turned his head to look at her she crawled to where he was and hugged him. She whispered apologies to his ear.

Ishizu died weeks after that due to her injuries. He was only 10 winters old.


	8. Chapter 8

Ryo had been there for him, always for him, after Marik was left alone Ryo moved in with him, he would help him do the house chores and look for food, and at night, when nightmares plagued his mind he would be there to console him, it made things a little better, Ryo made his body feel light, he would make his heart beat a thousand times faster, and he would give him a funny feeling in his belly. His first love.

Four winters went by before he noticed.

Marik was growing, he was changing, but Ryo, he still looked like the day he found him, cute little Ryo with his soft, fluffy hair and lithe body.

"Is something wrong?" asked Ryo "You look pale"

Marik blinked and looked around.

"No, I just thought I saw someone" he said and continued with his chores.

The day was ending, soon the moon and stars would come up to the sky. Ryo was out on the oasis, looking for food, Marik was in their house, sweeping the floor, when Ryo arrived running, looking pale and with an expression of cheer terror.

"A de-de-de, a demon" he said.

"What?!"

There was indeed a demon, it's skin looked like dried blood, he had the head of a crocodile, the torso and arms of a muscled man, and the rest of his body was that of a horse.

It ran into the house, right behind Ryo.

Marik ran to where he had his father's weapons hidden, and took a sword, he didn't know if it would be useful against a demon but he could try.

Ryo screamed when the demon took him from his hair. Marik ran and cut clean the demon's hand who let out an inhuman scream; but it ignored Marik and ran after the white haired boy.

"Your time is our" he heard a hoarse voice said "You belong to us now"

Marik couldn't pinpoint where the voice came from exactly. Until it spoke again.

"I'll take you with me boy" it was the demon, it was speaking even if it's crocodile mouth didn't move.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" yelled Ryo running around while the demon chased him "Leave me alone! Please!"

Marik ran behind the diabolic creature and stabbed it on the back, it turned and with it's only hand tried to grab him.

And it did.

It had it's hand on Marik's neck, impeding him breath, he tried to break free but it's strength was bestial.

Ryo tried to aide him, he took the knife and stabbed the creature again, it let go of his friend who almost lost consciousness.

Once more it started chasing the poor boy, and once he managed to catch his hair again he put a deadly grip on it, he walked to the door, dragging him; Ryo screamed and tried to break free but all he did seemed useless, Marik could barely move, his body still trying to get the oxygen it had been denied of.

"Let him go" he said, his voice was hoarse and it was painful to speak.

The demon ignored him, Ryo was crying.

"Let him go" he repeated but the demon kept walking away "Let him go!"

Suddenly something changed, the moon was up but it was as bright as a few hours ago, and he felt really warm.

And just like that, with a monstrous scream the beats turned into ashes.

"Marik?" said Ryo, eyes wide in shock.

Marik ran to his friend and hugged him.

"You're eyes, they were glowing" Ryo grabbed Mario's face to stare at it "How did you do that?" he whispered.

"I don't know, I didn't even noticed it" he felt tired but he could almost feel the energy flowing through his body "Ryo, why was that thing after you?"

"You're so warm" was the response he got.

"Ryo" he scolded the child.

"I don't know" he sighed "I was walking by the bush we met and that thing appeared out of nowhere saying it would take me with him" he snuggled on Marik.

"There must be something there that can give us a clue of what was that" he tries to get up but Ryo strengthened his hold on the teenager "We have to go there Ryo" the kid shook his head "Is not an option, we're going" once again the albino shook his head.

"What if another demon appears?"

"I'll kill it" Marik took the kid off of him "I'll protect you no matter what, okay?" Ryo slowly nodded.

The place in where they had met was on the borderline of the oasis, behind a bush, there was nothing different of how it was the day before except for the hole on the floor in where a child's skeleton was buried.

Marik and Ryo stared at it in disbelief, and suddenly all the memories came back.


	9. Chapter 9

He was crying and his brother shushed him.

He looked much like himself but his skin was darker and he had a scar all the way down the side of his face, Ryo didn't remember anymore how his brother got the scar but it probably involved him too.

"Hey it's okay, everything is going to fine, we'll make it out of here" he whispered; he looks around to make sure they were alone in that room "Come on, we have to get going" he stood and pulled Ryo up with him.

The commotion had calmed down a bit, there were only citizens hidden praying to not be found by the royal guards, from time to time a scream could be hear, of someone who had been found and instantly killed.

Ryo and his brother stayed as quiet as they could be, running through the narrow streets to the stables, to steal a horse and scape.

His brother mounted the animal and extended a hand to him when he felt something sharp pass right through his chest.

His brother gasoed in horror, his eyes wide in fear and he stretched out further, grabbing Ryo by his wrist and banking him up by it.

"Brother?" his body hurt, and his vision was starting to become blurred.

"Don't worry everything is okay, you'll be fine" his brother repeated that phrase like a mantra as they rode away of their home.

He fell asleep in his brother's embrace and when he woke up, he was all alone in an oasis.


	10. Chapter 10

"Ryo?" Marik had kneeled down to be face to face with his friend.

"Is that" his eyes sting with tears "Is that me?"

Marik stared at him dumbfounded.

"That's me" he whispered, and as his tears ran free down his face he fell down on his knees "Marik that's me" he sobbed.

"Ryo what are you talking about?" his heart sting with the sight of his first love crying and broken in front of him.

Ryo then told him the tale of how he and his brother had tried to escape and how he had died.

Ryo was wailing so Marik did the only thing he could, he hugged the crying boy and sent silent prayers to the gods, to let his friend's soul rest in the afterlife.

And bless the boy, for he is loved among the deities, they responded his call and with the sun rise arrived Anubis; God protector of the death, he who takes the souls to the afterlife.

He extended his hand to Ryo.

"Marik" his wailing stopped and he patted his friend's back "I have to go now"

Marik sniffed and reluctantly, let his friend go.

And as the sun rises, Ryo disappeared into the distance walking alongside Anubis.


End file.
